sustentation
Americannoun
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maintenance in being or activity; the sustaining of life through vital processes.
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provision with means or funds for upkeep.
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means of sustaining life; sustenance.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sustentation
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin sustentātiōn- (stem of sustentātiō ) an upholding, equivalent to sustentāt ( us ) (past participle of sustentāre, frequentative of sustinēre to sustain ) + -iōn- -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Soon Premier Mussolini ascended this mighty sustentation, planted himself on an imperial-seeming musnud.
From Time Magazine Archive
Deriving its power of sustentation from the gas contained in the gas-bag, the free balloon is spherical in form.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various
Also of an old Monasterie in the Citie of Yorke, he founded an Hospitall for the sustentation of poore persons and dedicated it to S. Peter.
From The Lives of the III Normans, Kings of England: William the First, William the Second, Henrie the First by Hayward, John
The Fishmongers had a grant of power to hold land "for the sustentation of the poor men and women of the said commonalty."
From Memorials of Old London Volume I by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
The air-ship, unlike the aeroplane, is not dependent upon its engines for its power to remain in flight, but derives its sustentation from the hydrogen gas with which it is filled.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
